Jupiter hit by comet??

Bobby1984

It has been reported that a comet/asteroid has hit Jupiter but it has not yet been confirmed. There should be some spectacular photos over the next few days if this is true.

One of the more famous strikes was by the Shoemaker Levy comet back in 1994.

jfSDAS

The resulting fireball was witnessed by a handful of observers and George Hall in Dallas, Texas captured a flash from the impact on a webcam movie (see http://georgeastro.weebly.com/jupiter.html )

Others saw the explosion visually and observers worldwide are being urged to view the planet over the next few days to see if any impact scars develop.

Jupiter is in Taurus at the moment where it is the brightest star-like object in this region of the sky. The giant planet pops above the horizon at 22:45BST (21:45UT) and shines at magnitude -2.2.

Check out the links below for more on this breaking story:

• http://www.universetoday.com/97294/viewing-alert-jupiter-may-have-been-impacted-by-a-fireball/
• http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Another-Flash-on-Jupiter-169263686.html
• http://www.spaceweather.com/ -- also check the links on this site about why some impacts leave a temporary mark on Jupiter and some don’t.
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/03aug_whathitjupiter/ -- an article about another recent Jupiter impact

Mickeroo

This seems to be a pic of it according to nbc:



Thought it might just be a pic of older one at first but they don't say anywhere that it is.

Iancar29

Video!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19299984@N08/7976507568

dublinman1990

My goodness gracious; That was some hit caught in the place at the right time.

Truly Amazing.

Did the person who took the video recorded it from his iPhone?

emo72

Clucking bell! Awesome footage.

Mr Benevolent

Sweet Jebus. The explosion was a fair few times the size of Earth. You can even see the shockwaves!

Kersh

Thats deadly!

Capt'n Midnight

another back in 2009 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10238332

so not that uncommon

Jupiter impacts were thought to be quite rare. After the latest collision with a comet called P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, or SL9, astronomers didn't expect any other strikes for at least several hundred years.

...
Most importantly, they found no "halo" around the latest collision site. A comet would have generated a halo of fine dust as it impacted the surface.

Gweedling

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Most importantly, they found no "halo" around the latest collision site. A comet would have generated a halo of fine dust as it impacted the surface.

The comet never hit the surface, unsuprisingly. Most of Jupiter is gas, the actual surface is quite small by comparison, one of the sites said the comet burned out while going through one of its atmospheres.

Myrddin

Gweedling wrote: »

The comet never hit the surface, unsuprisingly. Most of Jupiter is gas, the actual surface is quite small by comparison, one of the sites said the comet burned out while going through one of its atmospheres.

Is there an actual surface? Or is it gas until it reaches a solid core?

yeppydeppy

Here you go:

Capt'n Midnight

EnterNow wrote: »

Is there an actual surface? Or is it gas until it reaches a solid core?

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=11068

What goes on under the clouds of Neptune and Uranus? A new paper reinforces the possibility that there are oceans of liquid diamond in such places, diamond seas with solid diamond icebergs

Gweedling

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

What goes on under the clouds of Neptune and Uranus? A new paper reinforces the possibility that there are oceans of liquid diamond in such places, diamond seas with solid diamond icebergs

I have a problem, as soon as I read that bit my brain just went "OMGMINECRAFTMINECRAFTMINECRAFT"

I need to get out more

Capt'n Midnight

Mickeroo

*snigger*

Capt'n Midnight

The rest of the article is here http://dvice.com/archives/2011/10/we-now-know-why.php